Pearl Brunings is a Surinamese-born visual artist based in Sweden. Her practice explores the intersections of memory, ancestry, imagination, and place, often through abstract, dreamlike landscapes.
Drawing from her African, Asian, and European heritage, Brunings has developed a visual language shaped by layered colour, atmosphere, and an enduring connection to nature. Rather than relying on literal symbolism, her work creates imagined spaces in which personal and ancestral memory can surface and intertwine.
Since relocating from Suriname to Sweden, questions of migration, presence, and belonging have become increasingly present in her practice. Alongside painting, she works with found materials and objects that carry their own histories, exploring what it means to bring her visual language into a landscape and cultural context that existed before her arrival.
Across her work, landscape becomes more than a depiction of place: it is a space where memory, identity, and imagination meet, inviting reflection on our relationship with the natural world and the traces we leave within it.
CV
Born in 1969 in Paramaribo, Suriname
Lives and works in Unnaryd, Sweden
Education/Training
2002-2004 – Painting apprenticeship with visual artist George Struikelblok, Paramaribo, Suriname
2001-2005 – Graphic design training from graphic and visual artist Henna M. Brunings, Paramaribo, Suriname
2000-2002 – Painting apprenticeship with visual artist Soeki Irodikromo, Paramaribo, Suriname
Selected Solo Exhibitions
· Mystycal Memories, Folkhemmet Unnaryd, Unnaryd, Sweden, 2026
· Woven Worlds, Kasteel Le Paige, Herentals, Belgium, 2026
· The Art of Pearl Brunings, Stichting NK, VIP Lounge Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, Para, Suriname, 2024
· When Golf Meets Art, Golfclub Paramaribo, Suriname, 2023
· Unchained, De Hal, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2023
· Che’s Presents Art from Hex’s Heart, Che’s Bar Tapas Cigars, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2021
Selected Group Exhibitions
· Konst åt alla, Halland - Björkängsgården, Tvååker, Sweden, 2026
· Stichting Sanjay’s Najaar Salon 2025, Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2025
· Stichting Sanjay’s Najaar Salon 2024, Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2024
· SIAF 2023 Pop-Up, Surinaamsch Rumhuis, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2023
· 43rd Regular Meeting of the Heads of Government of the CARICOM, Royal Torarica, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2022
· High Level Security Conference 2022, Torarica Resort & Royal Torarica, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2022
· Artlife of Rum, Surinaamsch Rumhuis, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2022
· Diff’rent Strokes, Centro Andres Bello Community Centre, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2004
· Faces, Fort Zeelandia (Building 9), Paramaribo, Suriname, 2001
Art Fairs
· Nationale Kunstbeurs 2023 (NK 2023), De Hal, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2023
· Nationale Kunstbeurs 2022 (NK 2022), De Hal, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2022
· Nationale Kunstbeurs 2021 (NK 2021), Virtual art fair, 2021
Professional Recognition
Selected for inclusion in the professional artist directory of Konst i Halland (Art in Halland), the regional visual arts resource centre managed by Hallands Konstmuseum in collaboration with Region Halland, Sweden, 2026
Collections
· Works acquired by CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
· Work acquired by Folkhemmet Unnaryd, Unnaryd, Sweden
· Paintings acquired by H.E. Albert Egbert Jubithana, Minister of Transport, Communications and Tourism, Republic of Suriname, and presented to:
H.E. Ruisandro Cijntje, Minister of Economic Development, Government of Curaçao
H.E. Charles Fernandes Cooper, Minister of Traffic, Transportation and Urban Planning, Government of Curaçao
· Works held in private and corporate collections in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Suriname, Sweden, Türkiye, and the United States
Selected Press
· Woven Worlds opens doors for artist Pearl Brunings, De Ware Tijd (2026)
· Pearl from Winter Vol Liefde offers a glimpse into her life as an artist at her exhibition, JAN Magazine (2026)
· Winter Vol Liefde-Pearl on her art: 'I hope that people will reflect on the magic of nature', JAN Magazine (2026)
· Surinamese artist launches crowdfunding campaign for Belgian solo exhibition,Suriname Times (2025)
· Visual artist Brunings invited for solo exhibition in Belgium,De Ware Tijd Online (2025)
· Artist Pearl Brunings: ‘I used to draw on the bedsheets and the walls of the house’, Parbode Magazine (Feature article, 2025)
· Featured three times on “Q-Time with Pearl Brunings,” Supreme Suriname TV (2022, 2023, 2025)
· Minister Jubithana presents artworks to colleagues in Curaçao as gifts, Starnieuws (2023)
· Exhibition ‘Unchained’: an ode to creative freedom, Waterkant (2023)
· Raoul Roeplal, Visual artist Pearl Brunings holds her first major solo exhibition, ABC TV Suriname (2023)
· Pearl Brunings unveils versatile art in ‘Unchained’, De Ware Tijd (2023)
· Tascha Aveloo, Art and Culture, De Ware Tijd (2022)
· Episode 09 – April 29, 2021, Eygi Du Magazine podcast (2021)
· Video portrait of Pearl Brunings in Sranan Fawaka, MTNL TV Amsterdam (2002)
Professional Contributions
· Facilitator of Paint Your Journey workshop, commissioned by Bonadsmuseum Unnaryd, Unnaryd, Sweden, 2026
· Facilitator of Maluwana, Paint Your Inner Journey workshops, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2025
· Facilitator of Maluwana, Paint Your Inner Journey workshops, commissioned by City of Herentals, Department of Culture and Tourism, Herentals, Belgium, 2024
· Selection Committee member, Nationale Kunstbeurs 2023, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2023
· Founder and organizer of The Mobile Exhibition, Paramaribo, Suriname, 2023
· Graphic designer, Paramaribo, Suriname (2005-present)
Community Engagement & Funding
2025 – Crowdfunding campaign successfully raised € 6,563, demonstrating strong public engagement and a growing base of collectors and supporters